The present invention relates to ammunition magazines and particularly to magazine conveyors for storing and handling large caliber ammunition.
Heretofore, the task of handling ammunition for large caliber artillery pieces, such as howitzers, has been highly labor intensive and time consuming. To reduce the number of military personnel required and to save time, automated ammunition handling equipment has been proposed for conveying ammunition into and out of magazine storage.
One approach to mechanizing the handling of large caliber projectiles has been to provide an X-Y stacker mechanism for conveying the projectiles to and from a stationary magazine storage rack having a matrix array of storage tubes or "pigeon holes". To safely retain the projectiles in their storage pigeon holes during transport on rearm vehicles supporting howitzers in the field, spring loaded pads are disposed to bear against the projectile cylindrical bodies. While this approach is effective in protecting the projectiles from damage during transport over rough terrain, the X-Y stacker mechanism approach is complicated, and the storage and retrieval process is quite slow.
A more promising approach is to provide an ammunition conveyor trained throughout the interior of a magazine. While the conveyor is in motion, ammunition rounds are handed off to the conveyor during uploading and are handed off form the conveyor during downloading. While the conveyor is stopped, the uploaded ammunition rounds remain in magazine storage positions on the conveyor. Uploading and downloading can be accomplished expeditiously in a highly automated manner. While mechanizing the handling and storage of large caliber ammunition utilizing the handling and storage of large caliber ammunition utilizing a magazine conveyor is not particularly complex, this approach is not without complications. The conveyor should accommodate both projectiles and propellant canisters as separate ammunition units required by howitzers. The magazine conveyor must be capable of safety storing projectiles and propellant canisters during transport over rough terrain in a resupply vehicle. Thus, retainers are required to positively control the positions of the projectiles and propellant canisters on the conveyor during conveyance and while stationary in magazine storage locations. These retainers must be structurally robust to control projectiles weighing in the neighborhood of one hundred pounds, must be adapted to different types and sizes of both projectiles and canisters, and also must not hinder uploading and downloading.